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Epignosis 
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 Topic: The Epignosis Book Club
Posted: November 14 2008 at 09:24 |
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Okay, so I may not be Oprah (and I certainly don't have her deep pockets), but I've got a little book club right on PA!
I've listed my 25 favorite novels in no particular order. Vote for your favorite (book or author, doesn't matter) from this list (even if you haven't read them all).
Also, tell me what your favorite novels and authors are.
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Moogtron III
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 09:37 |
Great thread!
I love the Karamazow book, so I voted for that.
My favourites novels:
1. Phantastes - George MacDonald
2. The Catcher In The Rye - J.D. Salinger
3. Watership Down - R. Adams 4. Lord Of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Anna Karenina - L. Tolstoy
6. War And Peace - L. Tolstoy
7. The Promise - C. Potok
8. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
9. Showboat World - J. Vance
10. The Dreamstone - C.J. Cherryh
My favourite novelists: Leo Tolstoy, Chaim Potok and Jack Vance
Edited by Moogtron III - November 14 2008 at 09:37
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Epignosis
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 09:51 |
 Moogtron III wrote:
Great thread!
I love the Karamazow book, so I voted for that.
My favourites novels:
1. Phantastes - George MacDonald
2. The Catcher In The Rye - J.D. Salinger
3. Watership Down - R. Adams 4. Lord Of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Anna Karenina - L. Tolstoy
6. War And Peace - L. Tolstoy
7. The Promise - C. Potok
8. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
9. Showboat World - J. Vance
10. The Dreamstone - C.J. Cherryh
My favourite novelists: Leo Tolstoy, Chaim Potok and Jack Vance |
I enjoyed "The Catcher in the Rye" also, but I suppose I'm a little too young to completely comprehend it on an emotional level. I tend to prefer Salinger's short stories.
I love Lord of the Rings also, but I left it off the list because I knew it would dominate. 
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LinusW
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 10:08 |
Oooh! Have to give this some thought, but I'm glad to see Oryx and Crake on the list. Been recommending it now and then here at PA 
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Epignosis
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 10:18 |
LinusW wrote:
Oooh! Have to give this some thought, but I'm glad to see Oryx and Crake on the list. Been recommending it now and then here at PA
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My reading "Oryx and Crake" has a funny story behind it. My father-in-law is a conservative Baptist preacher (more conservative than me), and he paid for the whole family to go on a cruise for a week. Since cruise ships don't deal in cash (except the casino), and since we all had cards for our expenses that were connected to his credit card (hence he could view all purchases), I couldn't drink. I brought a little bit of cash to gamble, but lost it all the first night.
My wife had also just given birth to our son two weeks prior, so she was stuck in the cabin breastfeeding most of the time.
So what did I have to do? I ventured into the ship's library and checked out Oryx and Crake. I read the thing in six days, as well as several chapters of John Irving's Until I Find You.
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Moogtron III
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 10:23 |
Epignosis wrote:
Moogtron III wrote:
Great thread!
I love the Karamazow book, so I voted for that.
My favourites novels:
1. Phantastes - George MacDonald
2. The Catcher In The Rye - J.D. Salinger
3. Watership Down - R. Adams 4. Lord Of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Anna Karenina - L. Tolstoy
6. War And Peace - L. Tolstoy
7. The Promise - C. Potok
8. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
9. Showboat World - J. Vance
10. The Dreamstone - C.J. Cherryh
My favourite novelists: Leo Tolstoy, Chaim Potok and Jack Vance |
I enjoyed "The Catcher in the Rye" also, but I suppose I'm a little too young to completely comprehend it on an emotional level. I tend to prefer Salinger's short stories.
I love Lord of the Rings also, but I left it off the list because I knew it would dominate.
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Yes, it would, no doubt 
For me the opposite as it comes to Salinger: i never could come into his short stories, except for A Perfect Day For Bananafish.
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Epignosis
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 10:28 |
Moogtron III wrote:
Epignosis wrote:
Moogtron III wrote:
Great thread!
I love the Karamazow book, so I voted for that.
My favourites novels:
1. Phantastes - George MacDonald
2. The Catcher In The Rye - J.D. Salinger
3. Watership Down - R. Adams 4. Lord Of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Anna Karenina - L. Tolstoy
6. War And Peace - L. Tolstoy
7. The Promise - C. Potok
8. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
9. Showboat World - J. Vance
10. The Dreamstone - C.J. Cherryh
My favourite novelists: Leo Tolstoy, Chaim Potok and Jack Vance |
I enjoyed "The Catcher in the Rye" also, but I suppose I'm a little too young to completely comprehend it on an emotional level. I tend to prefer Salinger's short stories.
I love Lord of the Rings also, but I left it off the list because I knew it would dominate.
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Yes, it would, no doubt
For me the opposite as it comes to Salinger: i never could come into his short stories, except for A Perfect Day For Bananafish. |
That story made me feel really uneasy, especially at the end.
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Padraic
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 10:32 |
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I remember being blown away by Siddhartha when I was 17, but I'd have to re-read it to see how I feel about it now. Bronte, Dostoyevsky are great; The Kite Runner was superb though highly depressing.
My favorite books to read are histories and biographies.
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Epignosis
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 10:35 |
NaturalScience wrote:
I remember being blown away by Siddhartha when I was 17, but I'd have to re-read it to see how I feel about it now. Bronte, Dostoyevsky are great; The Kite Runner was superb though highly depressing.
My favorite books to read are histories and biographies.
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I read The Kite Runner to my students one year. They loved it, and it gave them a little bit of historical context for the mess going on in the Middle East right now.
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jammun
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 20:23 |
Well I was after all an English major, so my tastes run as such, in this particular order:
Thomas Pynchon (greatest American author of the 20th century, without peer)
David Foster Wallace (too bad he commited suicide; Infinite Jest is awesome)
Don DeLillo (particularly Underworld)
I've been reading a little Steinbeck lately (Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat) which though not amongst his great novels are a highly humorous diversion.
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Bern
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 20:29 |
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Great list and good thread idea!
I admit I've read maybe only half of those but I'll have to vote for Kafka. A really important book in my opinion.
Cheers to Dostoievsky though.
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RIP in bossa nova heaven.
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The Doctor
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 20:37 |
You forgot "Bound for Pleasure"...who cares who the author was. 
Seriously though, you did leave out most of my favorite books.
Asimov - Prelude to Foundation (as well as most of the rest of the Foundation series)
A.C. Clarke - Rendevous With Rama (the rest of the Rama series as well as the Gentry Lee Rama series and the sort of connected Cradle - all great)
David Eddings - The Belgariad & Mallorean series (sorry can't pick a single book from this 10-book plus series)
Julie Czerneda - Species Imperative (3 book series)
Larry Niven - The Mote in God's Eye
by the way...wasn't Elmer Gantry a singer with the Alan Parson's Project? 
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I can understand your anger at me, but what did the horse I rode in on ever do to you?
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jammun
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 20:38 |
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Should add I voted for the Irving book. Man he is impressive (Garp, Apple Cider Rules especially).
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Epignosis
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 21:16 |
jammun wrote:
Well I was after all an English major, so my tastes run as such, in this particular order:
Thomas Pynchon (greatest American author of the 20th century, without peer)
David Foster Wallace (too bad he commited suicide; Infinite Jest is awesome)
Don DeLillo (particularly Underworld)
I've been reading a little Steinbeck lately (Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat) which though not amongst his great novels are a highly humorous diversion.
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Thomas Pynchon? Never seen him.
As for DeLillo, I've read White Noise, but I didn't much care for it.
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jammun
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Posted: November 14 2008 at 21:56 |
Epignosis wrote:
jammun wrote:
Well I was after all an English major, so my tastes run as such, in this particular order:
Thomas Pynchon (greatest American author of the 20th century, without peer)
David Foster Wallace (too bad he commited suicide; Infinite Jest is awesome)
Don DeLillo (particularly Underworld)
I've been reading a little Steinbeck lately (Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat) which though not amongst his great novels are a highly humorous diversion.
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Thomas Pynchon? Never seen him.
As for DeLillo, I've read White Noise, but I didn't much care for it.
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Imagine being Pynchon's agent: 'Yo Tom, we need you to be on the Today Show this morning.'
Pynchon: Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.
As for DeLillo, Underworld is in a class of it's own.
I should also mention James Ellroy as a favorite. Great writer in the Hammett mold.
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el böthy
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Posted: November 15 2008 at 10:49 |
I´ve only read Metamorphis... 
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"You want me to play what, Robert?"
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Epignosis
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Posted: November 15 2008 at 10:56 |
el böthy wrote:
I´ve only read Metamorphis...
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That's the shortest one on here. 
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memowakeman
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Posted: November 15 2008 at 11:01 |
That's a cool poll Epignosis, sadly i don't know at least half of your listed novels.
I had a deep love for Siddartha since i first read it at highschool i may vote for it but i have to say that i truly enjoyed House of Sand and Fog, maybe a toss up between both.
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Follow me on twitter @memowakeman
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Epignosis
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Posted: November 15 2008 at 14:29 |
memowakeman wrote:
That's a cool poll Epignosis, sadly i don't know at least half of your listed novels.
I had a deep love for Siddartha since i first read it at highschool i may vote for it but i have to say that i truly enjoyed House of Sand and Fog, maybe a toss up between both. |
That's certainly all right if you haven't. I'm sure I haven't heard of most people's favorites if they listed their top 25.
I just wanted to share what mine were and see what others thought. I love getting recommendations too.
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MovingPictures07
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Posted: November 15 2008 at 14:39 |
As soon as I saw Atlas Shrugged, it didn't matter what the rest of the list was. Amazing book. 
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The Epignosis Book Club
